WIFE: Stop playing partisan games with disaster aid

“Stop Playing Partisan Games. No Disaster Aid = No Family Farmers and Ranchers” was the message Women Involved in Farm Economics (WIFE) developed to emphasize the need for disaster aid for ranchers and farmers hit by natural disasters in 2001 and 2002.

The Senate has attached a $3.1 billion disaster aid package to the Omnibus Appropriations that is now in conference.

While the bill does support disaster aid, WIFE continues to point out that the Senate amendment does not target producers who were hardest hit by disasters — those who have been hit by multi-year losses. Instead, the Senate plan gives 42.25 percent of the regular farm program payments in aid to all producers in designated disaster counties.

“This waters down aid for those who truly had disaster losses,” side WIFE President Ina Selfridge, Burdette, Kans. “Agriculture received a black eye from the mainstream press concerning the size of the farm bBill passed in 2002. We do not need another black eye by funneling disaster aid to producers who did not show a loss due to natural causes.”

The “Stop Playing Partisan Games” campaign will be initiated immediately via fax, phone, and email.